"What are you up to?" I ask.
"Oh, you"ll see, but it probably won"t be your thing. Although you never know, depends which way you sway," she winks, and a s.m.u.tty leer spreads across her now drunken face. "Jesus, I can"t wait." I let out a groan. "Any minute now," she finishes just as one of the security blokes bombs over.
The guys are all nudging each other, and Ciaran, having realised they"re up to something, is looking panicky. The music stops and the guys from Menswear and Home Electricals start clapping and cheering.
"No waaay," Ciaran shouts, "you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. I said no dodgy stuff." He leaps up. But before he can protest further, stripper music is playing and two girls dressed in hot pink Burlesque basques, with choppy fringes and cherry-red lips, appear in a puff of marabou and ostrich feathers. They dance through the crowd, teasing the boys as they peel off their long gloves.
After flinging off their basques, the girls start jigging up and down on the backs of their heels, making their matching hot pink nipple ta.s.sels whizz around in circles. I watch, fascinated at how they manage it, and secretly wondering whether with a bit of practice I could perform the same trick, when Eddie appears by my side.
"Pour. It"s time to make mama look pretty," he gasps in a phoney hillbilly accent, clutching a hand to his chest while simultaneously shoving a gla.s.s down and gesturing to a nearby bottle. "On second thoughts, cut out the middle man." He rolls his eyes to accentuate his foul mood, grabs the bottle and, after jamming it into his mouth, he tips it up and takes an enormous glug. "Ahh, that"s better," he says, slamming the bottle back down on the table and grabbing the shot gla.s.s from my hand and necking that too.
"Well, I think they"re fantastic. And I"d kill to have a body like that, and look at the power they have over all the s...o...b..ring blokes," I say, waving a hand around the room.
The girls have finished their routine now and are weaving back through the guys who are waving notes in the air. One of the girls catches my eye and gives me a friendly wink before stuffing a tenner inside her garter.
"Well, I"m bored," Eddie huffs. "I"ll make my own fun," he continues, before heading off to the door at the far end of the room. I chase after him, desperate to find out what has got into him.
"Eddie, come on, tell me what"s wro-" I stop mid-sentence and almost run into Eddie"s back as he halts in the doorway that leads out onto a little wooden balcony area overlooking the sea. Tom is sitting on a bench, with just the moonlight to see by as he taps into his iPhone. Eddie swiftly turns around.
"Oops! Three"s a crowd," he snorts, before barging back past me, giving me a little shove out and slamming the door behind him.
"Sorry about that, don"t know what his problem is," I say, feeling put on the spot.
"Well, he has a point," Tom replies, his messy hair making him look all windswept and utterly gorgeous, and I"m sure I detect a hint of flirtatiousness in his voice or maybe it"s just wishful thinking. "Why don"t you take a seat and keep me company for a bit?" He gestures to the s.p.a.ce next to him.
"What are you doing out here?" I ask as the crisp night air hits my face. I perch alongside him.
"Hiding," he replies, furtively. He turns to face me and his eyes shoot from side to side and I can"t help gawping openly at him. He manages to look both petrified and d.a.m.n s.e.xy all at the same time. My guard falls away as I listen to the waves below us and glance at the twinkling sh.o.r.eline in the distance. The tingle intensifies and I wonder what might happen if he actually touched me, or kissed me even. I allow myself to daydream for a flash of a moment, but then rapidly shake the thought from my mind.
"This isn"t really my scene," he whispers, leaning closer, and treating me to a quick burst of his intoxicating scent.
"Oh, it"s just a surprise for Ciaran and it was bound to be s.e.xual with Melissa in charge," I say, and like a p.u.b.escent teenager I feel my cheeks blush at saying the word "s.e.xual" in front of him. I immediately feel foolish. He must think I"m ridiculously immature, especially after what he must be used to with the prom queen and supermodel ... Maxine.
"Was it?" He stares into my eyes. The innuendo hangs in the air like a neon sign outside a cheap motel offering rooms by the hour. Blood rushes to my cheeks again. Neither of us speaks, and then he playfully nudges me with his shoulder and whispers, "Can I ask you a personal question?" I lean into him. His face is almost touching mine. He grins, and right now I want him to ask the question. I nod, and grin back.
"Are you really a cheeky cow?"
My mouth opens.
It closes.
I swallow and then open my mouth to reply, but his lips are on mine. It"s as if a b.u.mper pack of fireworks have all ignited, one after the other, deep inside me. And right now I don"t care if games are being played. I don"t care if I"m being used to sell more handbags, purses or whatever before Maxine shafts me. I don"t care if James hates me. I don"t care if Malikov wants to shoot me. All I care about is having Tom. It"s primal, and I"ve never felt like this before. Not ever. I feel his hand link with mine, and in the glow of the moonlight and over the gentle sway of the sea he moves his mouth to my ear.
"I take it you like pink roses then?" For a moment I"m not sure what he means, and then I remember. The gorgeous flowers delivered to the switchboard room. So they weren"t from James after all. They were a bona-fide secret-admirer bouquet. My heart skips a beat.
I lift my eyes to meet Tom"s, but his face changes. He looks really worried.
"Georgie, I"m so sorry. I err ..." he starts, lifting his hands out slightly, and away from me. He looks terrified now. "I"ll go. Please forgive me." He"s standing now, his hand reaching out for the door. But before I can rea.s.sure him, he pulls the door open and, after hesitating momentarily to glance back at me, he"s gone.
26.
The low, quiet m.u.f.fle of Tom"s voice stirs me, and I open my eyes. I stretch my arms and legs out like a starfish. Tom is in his room, but the adjoining door to the side of my bed is slightly ajar. He disappeared after leaving the karaoke bar last night, and I must have forgotten to close the door properly.
I pull myself up and peer through the crack. He"s sitting sideways on the chair at the desk wearing a grey T-shirt and jeans. He"s talking softly into a black retro-style desk phone.
"Yes. Just as we said it would." I strain to hear, wondering who he"s talking to. "We"re nearly there now." Then he clicks the handset down and I hear footsteps moving towards the hallway, followed by his door slamming shut.
I jump out of bed with a vigorous burst of energy that I"m not used to, and promptly trip over the left Gina sandal. I bend down to retrieve it, smiling at the memory of the kiss from last night but wondering why he rushed off like that. As I hunt around for the other sandal, I spot my clothes dumped in a heap by my bed. I scoop them up and my stomach rumbles. I"m starving. I ponder on room service, but "who was he talking to" pops into my head. An unnerving thread of doubt worms its way into my thoughts, and I move towards the adjoining door. It"s still ajar, and a horrible sense of mistrust festers in the pit of my stomach as I tiptoe through it.
He only left a few minutes ago. My brain races, quickly calculating a feasible time span before he might return, then telling myself he"s gone downstairs to have breakfast before heading straight to the conference room. My heart pounds as I rush over to the desk. But what if he forgot something and comes back? I have to be quick.
I lift the handset, and my hand trembles as I press the redial b.u.t.ton. After the longest few seconds ever, the number he called appears on the display. It"s a London number. It starts ringing. The feeling of hunger is replaced with a rush of nausea. I wish I hadn"t done this now. I pull the handset away from my ear, desperate to ignore the knot of doubt, and I"m just about to disconnect the call when a voice breathes into the charged air.
"Yes?"
I drop the handset down as if it"s a scalding hot iron singeing the palm of my hand and fly from the room, slamming the adjoining door behind me.
Maxine"s voice.
It was Maxine.
I"d know her breathy voice anywhere. I hate her a million times over, but not as much as I hate myself. What the h.e.l.l was I thinking? I feel like a complete sucker. The flowers, his gentlemanly charm, showing me his etchings ... I mean, come on, how cliched is that? And I still fell for it. It was all a ruse after all. And what about James? I feel like a slapper. A horrible, guilty slapper. I barely know Tom, and it was only a kiss admittedly a very long delicious smoochy one but who knows what could have happened if he hadn"t left so abruptly. I"m not sure I could have resisted him if we"d come back here to carry on. Tears stab my eyes.
After a quick, punishingly hot shower, I decide to go and find the others. I couldn"t bear to still be here in the adjoining bedroom when Tom returns. I pull open the door and instantly grind to a standstill.
"Oh my G.o.d. What happened to you?" I ask, quickly taking in the scene. Ciaran is standing right in front of me with his fist in mid-air, as if he was just about to knock. And he"s totally naked and soaking wet.
"I was minding my own business having an early morning dip in the hot tub when I"m hauled out and my shorts whipped from my body," he says, through chattering teeth. "And they nicked my robe. Any chance of a towel?" he pleads, clutching his manhood.
"Err, yes. Of course. Sorry, I should have offered. Help yourself," I say, feeling fl.u.s.tered at this sudden interruption. Averting my eyes, I step aside and motion him towards the bathroom. "So who was it? Actually, no, let me guess, I bet it was Melissa?" I yell through the crack of the bathroom door as I start to calm down.
"Well, get this. They only had Kate and Wills masks on, and it all happened so quickly. They obviously planned it pathetic really."
"It could have been worse, at least you"re still inside the hotel," I tell him, as he emerges from the bathroom, having dried off and wrapped himself in a fluffy white robe.
"Hmmm, suppose so. I had to run naked from the hot tub to the nearest indoor place, which was here. I"ll throttle Melissa when I get my hands on her."
"Do you think it was definitely her?" I ask, stupidly, before realising she"s bound to have orchestrated it. I chew nervously at the side of my thumbnail; my head is still reeling.
"Of course."
"Well, do you fancy a drink?" I head over to the mini-bar, thinking I could certainly do with one. And then blush when I remember that it"s barely breakfast time.
"G.o.d no, bit early for me my liver feels as though it might pack up at any moment. The shots in that karaoke bar were lethal," he groans. "A gla.s.s of water would be good though." I nod and pour him a generous gla.s.sful, my hands still trembling slightly.
"Can I use your phone to call Melissa?"
"Sure." I hand him my mobile, and a few seconds later he tells Melissa to get herself along to my room immediately. I make my way over to one of the armchairs and Ciaran follows.
"You OK? You look really rattled," he says, flopping down in the seat beside me.
"Me? Yes, yes, I"m fine thanks," I say, airily.
"You sure? Only you look kind of distracted." He frowns. I nod, pulling my thumb away from my clenched teeth and force a smile onto my face. "So how"s it going with the revamp?" he asks, tactfully changing the subject.
"Oh, don"t remind me," I reply, glancing at the adjoining door to make sure it"s definitely closed.
"That bad eh?" Before I can answer, there"s a timid tap at the door. Lauren is standing in the corridor looking very nervous when I answer it.
"I"ve got Ciaran"s stuff," she says, tentatively, clutching a bundle of clothes.
"Well, you"d better come in then."
"I"m really sorry, Ciaran, it was just meant as a joke," Lauren pleads, as he makes his way over towards her.
"Who put you up to it?" Ciaran asks, trying to sound serious.
"Um," she replies, but hesitates for too long, and then the flicker of her eyes indicates she"s not alone. I pop my head out through the doorway and see Melissa and various other male colleagues skulking halfway down the corridor.
"You"re for it now." I wag a finger at Melissa, as Ciaran pushes past me to get to her.
"Oh, come on, it was only a laugh. A leg-pull for the wedding boy, that"s all," she says, adopting a pretend Kung Fu stance, but Ciaran is too quick and tips the gla.s.s of water over her head. Melissa shakes herself down like a wet dog.
"We need a picture, where"s your phone?" Ciaran yells at me, and I race back into the room to retrieve it.
"Let me take one of you all," Lauren offers. So I jump over next to Melissa, Ciaran quickly follows, and we both stick up V signs above her head.
"Thanks." I take my phone back and scan the crowd. "Where"s Eddie?" I ask Lauren.
"Oh, he went home. Said he didn"t feel well. Tom went with him." My heart sinks at this revelation. So Tom has gone then. Talk about love them and leave them he obviously couldn"t get away from me fast enough.
27.
There"s a "morning after the weekend before" silence when I arrive at work. Somebody has cranked the music up and "Love Is All Around" is playing on a continuous loop, driving me round the twist, as Mrs Grace would say. And there"s still half an hour to go until opening time.
I do a quick scan towards Tom"s Fine Jewellery counter and feel relieved on seeing it"s empty, but then irritated by the sight of the limited edition Valentine bottles of pink champagne he"s got piled up to flog too. Since when did Carrington"s sell alcohol? And I bet he"s got a bottle or two stashed away to share with Maxine on Valentine"s Day. She was obviously lying about being single.
I reach my counter, tweak the Valentine promotion board into place, just about manage to fling my bag in the locker when Tina appears. She"s wearing a headband with a pair of flashing red hearts bouncing around on springs above her head, and clutching a batch of white forms that she starts dishing out.
"Thanks, what is it?" I ask, when she tosses one down on top of the c.o.c.ktail rings, narrowly missing Annie"s strategically arranged miniature Cupid soft toy display. A fiver with every purchase, and they say, "I love you" when you press the left paw, although Annie found one the other day that sounded more like "I loathe you". We think the battery must be dying ... and I know the feeling. With her free arm on her hip and a bored look on her face, Tina eyes me up and down.
"Take a look and see," she says with a curt smile. Then she flicks out her ponytail, and grins as if we"re actually real friends. "Can"t wait until Sunday," she quickly adds, in an extra loud voice. I stare at her blankly, wondering what she"s going on about. "My hen party. Oh, don"t tell me you"d forgotten?" She treats me to her crazy cow smile. I groan inwardly, thinking: don"t remind me. "Can"t wait to catch up," she trills, as she stalks off to hand out the rest of the forms. I grab the form and see that it says "Diversity Awareness Survey" across the top.
"Can I have everyone"s attention please? If you could huddle around me. Chop chop." She claps her hands. "Come on, nearly opening time." Tina"s voice is bristling with efficiency. We all look up. "Recently I"ve witnessed some very disappointing behaviour towards our customers from overseas that quite frankly could land us in very hot water indeed. As a responsible employee " a little round of sn.i.g.g.e.rs circulates "I took my concerns to Amy, the HR manager, and let me tell you ... she was horrified! So, she asked me to make sure these forms are completed straight away." She waves the pile of leftover doc.u.ments in the air. So that"s what she was busy scribbling about in her notebook. I smile inwardly, wondering when she"s going to start heeding her own warning about tolerance towards others, as she sure as h.e.l.l won"t even tolerate me talking to or tweeting Ciaran.
There"s a groan from the guys in Menswear as they flip open the forms marked "Strictly Confidential" at the bottom of each page.
"And the doc.u.ment can also be found on the Carrington"s web page on the HR shared drive if any of you wants to complete it online and do your bit for the environment." She smiles, looking very pleased with herself for being so forward-thinking.
"Wouldn"t it have been better not to have printed any at all in that case?" Melissa points out. "And it says to insert a cross if completing the form electronically and use a black pen if writing the answers," Melissa adds with a wicked glint in her eyes. "So what do I do with the pen then?" There"s silence as we all wait for the punch line. "Whatever you want," Tina steps in. "Even you can work that one out." She looks as though she might be regretting her overzealousness now.
I busy myself with completing the form. I don"t like Tina but I don"t want to upset her either, not when she holds the key to my commission payments. Everyone flicks through the form, a couple of Home Electrical guys pause on the section about criminal convictions, and after debating whether a caution for a drive-by gobbing incident counts, they move on to the s.e.xual orientation section.
Having delivered the forms,Tina stalks off, the flashing red hearts bouncing wildly and her denim wedge slingbacks slapping furiously as she gathers speed. With almost comedic timing, she catches her pocket on the outstretched hand of the Missoni mannequin, yanking it free as she flounces from the floor.
Show over, I"m crouching down to retrieve my phone when Maxine suddenly appears from behind me. "Hi there."
The smile immediately slips from my face and, after flinging the phone back into my bag, I jump up so that for once I"m operating from the same level as her.
"Oh Maxine, I didn"t see you there. How are you?"
Ignoring my question she says, "How was the team-building event?" and then stares at me blankly while waiting for my answer.
"Err, yes, you know how these things are," I say, smarting from her directness and conscious that my cheeks are threatening a blush. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the others all pretending to be busy, but I know they"re listening intently.
"No. Not really. I heard that it was, let me see, what was it that Tom said? Oh, predictable, yes that"s it." Predictable? What"s that supposed to mean? G.o.d, I hope he"s not referring to me. "Anyway, I won"t keep you, I have some visual merchandising to attend to." She does her pageant smile before breezing off towards Tom"s Fine Jewellery section.
"Of course, and I"m straight on it," I mutter, grabbing the earring display and straightening the price tags. I gulp, wondering what else Tom told her. Surely he wouldn"t have said anything about the kiss. And then it dawns on me predictable. Of course, he"s used to getting any girl he wants and I was no different.
My face flushes hot at the possibilities of his implication. He reeled me in just like some grateful groupie.
Mortified, I make my way over to the DKNY display. On my way back I spot James coming through the fire door. I feel a pang of guilt. I waver for a moment, but then decide I have to put this right.
"James, please can I talk to you?" He looks at me, but doesn"t reply for a few seconds, as if hesitating over his decision. I look back at him, pleading with my eyes.
"OK, but let"s make it quick," he eventually agrees, and I sense the prompt for speed is his way of staying in charge. We dip into the corridor.
"James, I"m truly sorry for what I did." He stares at me, studying my face as if he"s trying to work out if I mean it.
"Look, like I said, I"m just not ready," he says, putting his palms up in protest. He turns to leave.
"James, please. I"ve been a rotten friend, I know. But please, hear me out, let me try and make it up to you." He stops and I notice his shoulders soften, and then to my surprise he turns around and smiles at me.